The Phoenicians also excel not only in…

The Phoenicians also excel not only in producing textiles but also in carving ivory, in working with metal, and above all in making glass.

Masters of the art of navigation, they establish colonies wherever they go in the Mediterranean Sea (specifically in Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete, and Carthage) and establish trade routes to Europe and western Asia.

Furthermore, their ships circumnavigate Africa a thousand years before those of the Portuguese.

These colonies and trade routes flourish until the invasion of the coastal areas by the Assyrians.